The four men who died in the Great North Run were aged between 28 and 52, a coroner's office has confirmed.

The youngest victim was Rueben Wilson of Leeds - Kieran Patching of Kent was 34 and David Mahaffey of York aged 43.

The fourth victim was deputy headmaster Phil Lewis, 52, who taught at Moorside Community College Consett, Co Durham.

Organisers have expressed their sadness at the deaths, the highest number of fatalities in the event's history. More than 50,000 runners took part.

Warm weather was initially blamed for the deaths. Temperatures reached 18C (64F) during Sunday's 25th Great North Run.

A spokeswoman for South Tyneside coroner's office said post-mortem examinations were being carried out this week.

A spokesman for the run's organisers, Nova International, said: "We would like to express our deepest sympathy and sorrow for their families.

"It was an extremely warm day, but it started off pretty cold and became a lot warmer, which can unfortunately lead to people suffering problems."

The event was expected to have raised about £10m for charity.

The Men's Race was won by Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse in 59 minutes 5 seconds, beating the previous record by one second.

Ethiopian Deratu Tulu clinched victory in the woman's race in 67 minutes 33 seconds.

The event was the brainchild of Tyneside-born Olympic medallist Brendan Foster.

About 12,000 people took part in the first Great North Run on 28 June 1981. .